Mist
by Lady Hiko
Summary: Some things are better left alone...beware the pink mist.
1. Default Chapter

Tittle: Mist  
Author: Lady Hiko  
Email: ladyhiko@yahoo.com  
URL: http://www.geocities.com/ladyhiko http://www.geocities.com/sailorpluto23/MoonLightRoses   
Rating: PG.  
Completion time: 9:05pm 1/02/02   
Prologue  
  
In the early 2000's a natural phenomenon was uncovered. Archeologists working on escevating ancient pharaoh King Tatemono's tomb had made a mistake. While removing the top of the sarcophagus an antiquated pink gas seeped out, covering the researchers. Believed to have been merely some ancient dust it was simply dismissed.  
They never knew what they had let escape.  
Weeks later the researchers began to feel weak, and began to have bumps crawl across their skin as the mysterious pink mist began to grow like a demon, an incubus, spreading across the desert, engulfing its inhabitants.  
Soon the rash's pusious bumps began to burst, releasing a squeamish lime green pus that began to cover them, hardening their skin, making it impossible to move. Scientists couldn't explain what was causing this reaction, or what the material was, for surely it wasn't just human pus, no pus could do this. They tried various acids and concoctions to try to dispel it from the men's bodies, but it didn't move, not even soften. Not many weeks after the goop slipped over the researcher's faces, suffocating them in their own bodily made shell, impenetrable to science.  
Slowly as the mist crept its way across the sea into Japan, attacking people with its monstrous malodor, creeping into the very homes of its people, destroying their very lives. Soon science was to discover the scent like no other as the slaughterer of one another.   
For months they tried to keep it under wraps, but it's pretty hard too keep people from noticing a phosphorescent pink cloud, killing off their neighbors. People rushed the hospitals, doctor's offices and clinics, begging for a cure (for those who could still walk), or for vaccines to prevent it. Those with sores were shunned for fear that touch of skin could transport it. As the disease progressed on the government began to panic. Driven by fear the emperor imprisoned those who carried the disease. Those in boils bled with fear, encasing them faster, causing them to die quicker. But as the rounding up went along, and family members of the same household were torn apart, science realized something. Some were immune to the disease. Soon the other family members were taken along, sent away on boats and trains to the origin near the disease to be studied, for the search for the cure. No one volunteered for this research, so they were forced into it.  
  
So this is where our story takes its start, deep within the bellows of Tokyo. Deep within a slum-ish hospital cries a bewildered four year old Usagi, all alone, no one to rely on. Father is gone, mother died months ago, and now she just lost her only brother with her only living relative, Uncle Moshi.   
Unknowing where to go, what to do, a dark shadow falls unnoticed over her weeping form. Two strange voices could be heard.  
"Should we take her?"  
"I don't know, do you think she'll survive?"  
"Possibly, her papers were clean, no trace of the virus. And besides, she's an orphan, no living relative on this entire planet. Where does she have to go?"  
"*Sigh* You're right. Let's take her."  
And with that the girl was lifted unwillingly to be taken to the unknown location in Africa.  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Author's Notes ~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
So what did ya think? Oddly enough this idea came to me in a dream. Strange huh?  
  
Will you guys all do me a favor, if you have time, please email me so that I know I'm heard. It can be just a one liner with a single signature. Please, I don't know if I'm heard.  
  
~ Lady Hiko  
  
ladyhiko@yahoo.com 


	2. Chapter 1

Tittle: Mist  
Chapter: 1: It begins  
Author: Lady Hiko  
Email: ladyhiko@yahoo.com  
URL: http://www.geocities.com/ladyhiko http://www.geocities.com/sailorpluto23/MoonLightRoses   
Rating: PG.  
Ranting: Once a mind is lost, hardly ever is it returned. That is why insane people seek out other insane people.  
The lines were strong and steady as the sick and the ailing stumbled into the ship, unbeknownst of their fate. The mist, that sickening grueling mist that had slunken into their houses, their homes, had claimed their fate.  
Among these desolates was a singly odd pair, or at least it would be to the norms. Standing among the sick and the diseased stood a small boy and his twin sister.  
Poking the small boy in the side, the little girl asked, "Are you sure this is the right line?" while shivering at the sight of so many people with boils.  
"I'm pretty sure," replied the boy and upon seeing a group of children, he decided probably not.  
Also spotting the other children, the girl promptly elbowed the boy in the ribs, causing a slight owe from him.  
"See Mamoru, I told you we were in the wrong line!"  
"All right Rei, you were right, but next time don't hit me so hard!"  
With that the young boy stormed over to were the children stood, his sister's hand clamped firmly in hand as they passed through the death and decay. Passing through the crowd, they say more advanced cases, getting worse by the footfall, and then they saw the worst of all.  
There, below them, right at their feet, lain two small children about their age. Their faces were covered with the hardened slimy green puss, leaving only tufts of their long black hair peeping out. They could have been boys; they could have been girls. It was hard to tell, all they could decipher is that they were dead, and that was for sure. Their stench was overwhelming.  
Closing her eyes tight, Rei clung to her brother's arm, tears squeezing out. "I don't want to see anymore...Get me away from here!" she sobbed.  
Slowly nodding his head he took her arm again and finished the rest of the way to the children's line.  
  
~~~~~  
Deep below in the belly of the ship lain another small child, weeping beside her blond haired cousin, wondering how that red clad bow managed to stay on her head.  
Looking at her cousin, the blond whispered, "It's gonna be alright Ami. It's gonna be alright."  
"But when?"  
````````  
About sunset that evening...  
The line to the boat was trickling down to nil as the last two of the healths were escorted onto the boat. Two elder children, both about eleven or so, were last to enter the boat. One had, oddly enough, teal hair, and the other had boyish cut blond hair and was dressed as a guy.  
The door swiftly slammed behind them as they set foot inside, making the aqua haired girl jump.  
"Do they have to slam that door so hard? Was it something I said?"  
"Oh nah, Michi-chan, you didn't do anything except surviving."  
"What do you mean by that?"  
"Hey you back there! Shut up and be quiet!" yelled the guard escorting them to the bellows of the cargo ship.  
Reducing her voice to a barely audible whisper, Hakura continued, "Don't those two mean the same thing? Anyway, they're mad that we survived the mist thing, and they'll probably not. I believe they're trying to figure out why."  
"I said shut up!" bellowed the guard once again.  
The rest of the trip below was spent in silence.  
  
````````  
The ship let out a sudden shudder as it pulled from its moor, waking the small golden child with a start. Realizing she was no longer in the in the hospital, she abruptly felt so alone in the world. The sobs came slow and steady as an unknown shiver racked her small body. How was she to survive? What were these people going to do to her? Was it going to be like how those people were shown on TV, where they were put in trains in cages by men in plastic suits to an unknown destination that uncannily looked like a zoo?  
Before she could even stop herself, before she even knew what she was saying came a small outburst out of her, " I don't wanna go to the zoo!" Her voice reverberated off the walls, making it ten times as loud.  
"Hey! Shut up over there!" came a male voice from the bellows of the ship, frightening the poor girl as she stepped on a poor unfortunate man right behind her.  
"Owwwwwwww! Watch it!" he cried out. Instantly he spotted a crack in the shell that had encased his arm, shocked, considering that diamond couldn't even cut it. He began to reach for her; desperate to get the self made shell off of him, scaring the hell out of her.  
She tried to run, to get away, only to be caught around the wrist by the desperate man.  
Struggling to free her arm, she yelled, "Let go of me!" causing all eyes in the room to focus on them. The man sweat dropped, stuttering, "It's okay folks, I'm just her father! Nothing to see here." Still struggling, Usagi yelled, " No you're not! He's lying!"  
"Is this man bothering you?" came a small voice, sounding oddly intimidating. Usagi looked up and saw a small girl about her age with green eyes and brown hair, flexing her surprisingly muscular arm. "Because if he is, I can take care of him for you." To anyone seeing this from outside the circle, it would probably seem funny; that is, until they saw the menacing look the four-year-old was giving him, making her look much older.  
The man's face contorted even more in fear, even though a four-year-old was staring him down. He backed away, slowly and steadily, until his butt hit the wall. He sat down where he hit, cradling his arm, still staring at the menacing four-year-old and the one who cracked his arm.   
And that's when the crowd noticed it. All those who were ailing noticed the crack on his arm and many approached him.  
"What happened to your arm?"  
"Does it hurt?"  
"Is it okay?"  
They all asked varying questions equivilent to that, but the main one they asked was, "What happened?"  
All the man did was point to the little golden child and murmured, "She did it."  
All eyes, every single desperate pair turned to the golden child, staring at her like a hungry mob.  
Desperation is your worst enemy people, your worst enemy. It turns you into the worst beings on earth, drives you to do things you definitely should not do. It drives you to your worst as it did to the crowd, turning them to the level of a mob as they hungrily enclosed around the small child, preventing any and all escape routes.  
Over the crowd one voice was heard yelling at the top of their lungs, "Stop it!"  
  
~~~~~ Author's notes ~~~~~  
  
Here is where I'm stopping. I bet some of you thought I wasn't going to write about it for a while like I did with Arabian Knight. Oh yeah, please don't kill me on Arabian Knight. If you kill me there will be no more!  
  
~Lady Hiko 


	3. Chapter 2

Tittle: Mist  
Chapter: 2  
Author: Lady Hiko  
Email: ladyhiko@yahoo.com  
URL: http://www.geocities.com/ladyhiko http://www.geocities.com/sailorpluto23/MoonLightRoses   
Rating: PG.  
Ranting: I've lost my mind. Have you seen it?  
AN: Sorry if I seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth, but believe me, I haven't. I just   
got a hefty sized case of writer's block, plus a lot of homework, and added to having to go to work. So that   
all added up to being one stressed out Hiko. Anywho, on with the story.   
  
  
All the man did was point to the little golden child and murmured, "She did it."  
All eyes, every single desperate pair turned to the golden child, staring at her like a hungry mob.  
Desperation is your worst enemy people, your worst enemy. It turns you into the worst beings on   
earth, drives you to do things you definitely should not do. It drives you to your worst as it did to the   
crowd, turning them to the level of a mob as they hungrily enclosed around the small child, preventing any   
and all escape routes.  
Over the crowd one voice was heard yelling at the top of their lungs, "Stop it!"  
  
`````` Moments before, Seiya ``````  
  
I had been lying high upon a makeshift loft upon a stack of crates, my head lazily settled upon my   
arms, my feet dangling over the edge. No one seemed to notice me, but it was fine with me. My sister, my   
OLDER sister, Setsuna ways quietly lying next to me, sound asleep with that clunker of a leg resting next   
to her staff. You see, she had also been infected by the mist, or at least that is what I have been told. I still   
don't understand why she was infected and not me, but that's not the point.  
Lying there can only amuse you for a short amount of time, so when I heard a loud noise, of   
course I'd look down. Sure, I was nosy, but hey, what can you expect from a four-year-old who is bored to   
death from having to share living space with cargo.  
Anyhow, the loud noise happened to be directed to a rather fat bald man and a small blond child   
with a very, very weird hairstyle. Sure, my hairstyle had come close to edge of being weird, but this one   
just jumped, skipped and merrily hopped directly over that border. Blondie down there didn't seem to   
happy, and well, that fat man just seemed starved, even though I don't know how that's possible. He was   
coming towards the girl and grabbed her wrist, hunger evident in his eyes.  
What is he doing?   
He pulled her towards himself as she struggled like a madwoman to get away. She screamed,   
kicked, yelled, and everyone was now looking at her. Well, nearly everyone, Setsuna was still asleep.  
The man began to sweat, realizing that he was being watched and stuttered, "It's okay folks, I'm   
just her father! Nothing to see here."   
The little girl seemed infuriated by that and began to scream and kick even harder, yelling, " No   
you're not! He's lying!" at the top of her lungs, even managing to wake Setsuna up.   
Another girl joined her at that point, another puny one, but enough to keep the man at bay. That is   
for now at least.   
My attention was distracted from the scene below as Setsuna rolled over, mumbling an incoherent,   
"What's going on?"  
I grabbed her arm and pulled her in the direction of the disturbance. This was about the time the   
onlookers began to advance towards the little girls.  
This got Setsuna angry, almost as mad as when those men took her and I away from our parents'   
bodies, but that is not the point.   
Grabbing her staff, she shoved me back towards the wall and told me to, "Stay here." Bellowing   
out, "Stop it!" she shoved herself off the box top, sending her self careening down upon what could only be   
considered a mob member.  
The sounds of yells and screams sent me looking over the boxes again to find her trying to fight   
off the mob as the blond girl's wail began to intensify. The shouts of the other girl next to her could be   
heard, but that didn't last for long. Apparently she had bit one of the mob members, causing one of them to   
send her flying across the room. She hit a pile of boxes and was obviously too stunned to stand back up.  
It was about this time that I noticed others had joined into the fight. Two guards had jumped into   
the mess, clubs bared, as a blond and a teal haired girl clamored in.  
The little girl was shrieking now, chunks of her pretty blond hair nestled in various mob members   
hands with green hair mixed in between. I had lost sight of my sister long ago, and I was really starting to   
worry.   
Was she all right?  
Where was she?  
Suddenly I saw blood on the hands of the men of the mob, and I could hear the girl no more.  
My eyes stuck wide open in shock.  
Was SHE dead?  
The thought in itself hit me with a sickening thud, and I was tempted to throw myself in the fray,   
not really knowing why.  
But I was saved from a cruel fate that would probably await me as my thoughts were suddenly cut   
off by a loud boom. Three more guards now stood at the entryway, armed with beanbag guns. They may   
not sound serious, but boy do those things hurt.  
They began firing into the mob, trying to dispel them from whatever was beneath them.  
The people wanted something, badly enough to start fighting each other, and the guards wanted to   
know what it was.  
About three more rounds later, they were able to cut into the center of the mob where the girl was,   
having the other two guards and the blond and teal haired girls get out of the way. And there is where I   
found my sister. She had spread herself over the small blond girl, shielding her like a linebacker would be   
covering a fumbled football. She concealed her tighter than the lid of a pickle jar, and was covered in   
blood because of it.  
To hell with what she had said! I thought as I jumped down, worried of their condition.  
But apparently I had jumped down too late, for before I could even move a muscle, I heard their   
bag guns cock, daring me to take a step further.  
"What the hell happened here?!" one of the men shouted, truly infuriated by the riot that had just   
taken place.  
No one dared to move, or speak up. The man just looked ticked off, and then barked at me,   
"Well?"  
I was scared, I will admit it. I was scared witless. I began to stutter out something incoherently; I   
really didn't want to be hit with that thing, or anything else for that matter.  
In that stirring silence, that heavy silence that surrounded us, I began to hear a quiet whimper, like   
as if something was actually moving under my sister.  
The guard shoved me roughly aside, finding me utterly useless, as he strode up to my sister and   
tried to dislodge her with his foot. She only clamped tighter around the little girl.  
The guard's eyes narrowed tighter at the look of her, and let out a low growl that sounded like,   
"Move."  
She just stared defiantly back at him, guarding the girl as if she were her own as little clumps of   
blond hair flowed out from beneath her arms.  
Cocking a real gun, he tried once again, lowering his aim at Setsuna's head, "Move or I'll shoot."  
With one last defiant grunt she rolled off the whimpering girl. She looked even smaller after my   
sister had moved. Aside from a nasty gash on her head, and a few bald spots and scrapes; she seemed fine,   
but scared half to death.  
The guard stepped over to the girl and looked down at her. She didn't move to notice, just   
trembled on the floor, whimpering all the same. He put a hand within a foot of her face and waved it past   
left and right, but the girl stared blankly ahead.  
This displeased him as he lifted the girl up and carried her to where the other guards stood. After   
a few moments where they appeared to be talking, he motioned for the teal haired girl to gather up the   
dazed child on the other side of the room, and the blond girl to help up my sister, balancing her between the   
staff and herself.  
As soon as we were securely behind the armed guards, myself included; he stepped forward,   
radiating his voice loud enough to be heard by everyone down below.  
"Due to this latest… occurrence, I am asking that you send all children up to the front of the room   
whether they're yours or not…" A quiet murmur rose from the crowd, some sending their children behind   
them as an act of defiance. Narrowing his eyes astonishingly further, he continued, spit flying out of his   
mouth as he spoke, "That was an order, not a request! Now send your children up to the front OR DO I   
HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF?!" With that he pulled out his pistol, the other guards following in pursuit.  
Slowly, but surely, all the children from the room were filtered from the crowd, their ages varying   
from two to fifteen. There were about twelve total, most being between four and six years of age, many   
still trying to cling to their parents with desperate tears. Four of the guards moved forward, guns cocked,   
ready to shoot, leaving us to be guarded by the main guard, the one that spoke. He was tall, and well built.   
He seemed to be about the size of two of me stacked on top of each other. His blond hair casting darkly   
over his green eyes, he looked down at the people like bugs. Though he saved us, I knew we shouldn't   
attempt to befriend him in any way, shape, or form and his V.A.G.A. tag confirmed it. His name was Kore,   
and V.A.G.A. stood for Vengeance Against Gaseous Anomalies, but in their minds it seemed it was also   
against those who were effected by it. The guards themselves were vicious creatures all on their own. They   
didn't seem to be at all affected by violence, and took no time to think before they'd strike another human   
being down.  
Soon all sixteen children were rounded up; myself included, and were lead up the corridor from   
which we originally came. I originally had hopes that maybe we'd be allowed to leave, but that was   
squashed as soon as we took a left through another door and were lead through another dim corridor. It   
was only lit up by gas lit burners, their stench wreaking up the hall, while their light reflected on the badges   
of the guards and the tear streaks down many of the children's faces. At the end of the hall I could see a   
solitary door, surrounded by nothing but brown-gray walls on either side, bright light seeping through the   
base of the door at the floor.  
I wasn't sure what was behind the door, but was quick to find out as they lead us through it, the   
brightness of the lights blinding us after being in such a dark hall.  
Inside was one of the strangest sites I had yet to see. The room was filled to the brim with   
children, but NONE of them were playing. Every single one was studying, or following the instructions of   
some adult in a blue and black uniform. Some were even fighting, but the adults didn't even seem to care.   
It was like as though they wanted them to fight. They all seemed to be staring at us like some alien force   
while they stood in their red and black uniforms, but I didn't have much time to dwell on them as we were   
lead further through the entirely white room and to another door. It said Ms. Invierno, and smelled oddly   
like a dentist's office, like as though it was filled to the brim with sanitary supplies and medicine.   
Bleck. As if being on this ship is bad enough, now we have to smell this! Bleck!   
Kore knocked three times on the door, and a mousy blond woman with her hair put up into a tight   
bun firmly attached to the back of her head, presumably Ms. Invierno, poked her head out. She smiled   
kindly to Kore, but as soon as she saw us, her face skewed to the distinction of looking as though someone   
had sprayed skunk stink directly up one of her nostrils. Maybe she was pretty once, though it's hard to tell   
when a woman looks at you like vermin. She looked expectantly up at Kore; "This IS the last of them,   
right?"  
Looking down at us as though he was staring at the tiling right through us, he replied, "Yep, the   
last of them until we hit Africa, then they'll be out of your hair." Looking down at the girl in his arms, he   
looked expectantly back up at Ms. Invierno who was giving us one last look over. Her eyes caught his and   
she muttered, "Bring them in, ALL of them in, and give the girl to me."  
With that the little blond girl was immediately given to her, and we were all ushered into her tiny   
little room. I felt sorry for those of us who were claustrophobic, particularly a little four-year-old black   
haired girl who was clinging to a small black haired boy.  
After wrapping the little blond girl's head in bandages and tending to the brunette girl and   
Setsuna's wounds, she looked at us boredly. Taking off her glasses and setting them on top of a large stack   
of papers, she replied, "Take your clothes off." She betrayed no emotion, and sounded very serious as she   
looked at us expectantly.   
"Here? NOW?! In front of all these other people?!" one of us panicked, a short blue haired girl   
standing next to a small blond with a red bow hanging loosely in her hair.  
Not skipping a beat, she replied, "All of you, take your clothes off now. Every single one of you."  
So she had each and every one of us strip down to our bare bottoms, even my 15yr old sister,   
much to my embarrassment. She made sure that there were no lice, and poked and prodded us in the oddest   
of places, much to my discomfort. The little bandaged up blond girl screamed all the way, and I couldn't   
help but want to stop the woman, protect her and apparently I wasn't the only one. About seven other pair   
of eyes told me so.   
Filling out the rest of the forms, including getting our names, she told us we could put our clothes   
back on, much to my relief. If my face could get any redder, I'd spontaneously combust!  
Stacking the papers firmly together she told Setsuna to lead us to the engraver, who was just down   
the hall to the left.  
Ever feel as though all eyes are you, that every move you make has someone watching you?   
That's how I felt as I walked down the corridor. You could tell that the ship had been docked here for a   
few weeks, maybe even a month, or perhaps they were moving a colony, because you could see it in their   
eyes. The children, all of them, looked at us as if we were some kind of insect as we stood in our ragged   
clothes. Their eyes were like ice, frozen as if they no longer had a soul…  
  
  
~~~ Author's notes ~~~~  
Sorry that this is so short, but it seemed as good of a place as any to leave off. I should really   
write on my stories more, ne?  
  
~Lady Hiko  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rugrat list:  
Beryl** Anne  
Alan**Jadeite **  
Zoicite  
Naru Kunzite  
Seiya--Setsuna--  
Makoto-Motoki-  
HarukaMichi  
Mina''Ami''  
Rei'Mamoru'  
UminoNephrite  
Demando" Saffir"  
Jun Jun  
Fiore   
Usagi   
Esmerald  
'Or- or*=related  
Bold = teen 


End file.
